nykfan845 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Face it...they didn't beat Athens, because Athens was different. Papaioannou mad an artistic performance that was continuous. China made a segment about enviroment, about the paper etc, that they are not connected. Technological, yes it was better, but we have already done it in 1997 in IAAF World Championships. Sorry, but the ceremony was boring, no spirit at all. I thought Athens was boring. I barely remember it at all. In fact I remember Sydney much more clearly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Scotland! I'm worried though - Sarah Brightman and bagpipes would have featured in London - they're stealing all our ideas. I remember Torino had a Alice in Wonderland style ceremony too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I'm back from my lunch break (I had a TV set nearby, of course ): I loved that "Dream" segment with the theme song and those fantastic whale projections we already saw in the SBS preview. What I found amazing was that the theme song is identical with the instrumental piece played for those whale projections in the SBS clip. So they actually played the theme song already at the rehearsals, but without singers. And now we know what those bag-pipers were for. Very interesting concept, having five bands from all five continents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Papaioannou mad an artistic performance that was continuous. China made a segment about enviroment, about the paper etc, that they are not connected. But the scroll and the concept of paper are connecting it. I think it's very artistically done and has a great human face despite the technology and spectacular effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rav3n Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Hahahahaha omg guys no offense but you must be crazy being at the forums and watching this WONDERFUL opening ceremony at the same time. Well, i have to say, after finally watching the cultural segment: Indeed, pretty different from Athens 2004. My only complains is that it was somewhat lineal with the giant chinese roll. I mean, there were some spaces on the stage which were not used. Even so, it was truly spectacular, but i will not give my full opinion of each segment until the ceremony fully ends. I will only leave my toughts, for the moment, of the beggining and the finale. The beggining...the best countdown indeed on a OC history, altough the rest was regular (the idea of the fireworks line from the center of Beijing until the stadium was good), but the most spectacular part of the beggining was the rising of the matrix olympic rings. The anthem was average, but the entrance of the flag was moving. However, o this part of the flag protocol, Athens 2004 wins. The finale, with Sarah Brightman...that song was 1000 times better than the Bjork ''Oceania'' crap i we heard 4 years ago. Indeed, this was the most moving part of the OC, i shed a tear from my eye. PD: WTF, bagpipes at the parade of nations hehehe we're seeing music from all the world, but its awful that they dont use it on the appropiate time (for example, using the mariachi music when Mexico marches) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Chambers Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I agree that Sydney was more mememorable than Athens - artistically perhaps it had a continious flow, but its a different presentation, in my view - this was a better ceremony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I must say that it has been a pretty good ceremony so far, though the initial drumming segment was a bit too long. The whole ceremony would have flowed a lot better for tv viewers if CBC didn't have those darn commercials at the worst times. And Mansbridge and Maclean are doing a terrible job at commenting, i have no idea what's going on half the time (though it does look amazing). That wasn't the case for Athens and Torino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ard72 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 It was visually spectacular, but personally I found it on the bit boring side I especially liked the bit with that big Ford car driving down the road and the QANTAS plane taking off, not impressed with the Harvey Norman song though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
code1390 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Belgium is number 20 of 204. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citius Altius Fortius Posted August 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Scotland! I'm worried though - Sarah Brightman and bagpipes would have featured in London - they're stealing all our ideas. I remember Torino had a Alice in Wonderland style ceremony too. LOL! It's almost too much to be coincidental. Are they trying to one-up London even before LOCOG's had a chance to respond? Interesting, Japan got a small cheer, but Chinese tapei (Taiwan) got a great roar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theone Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 @ the one,who was the Malaysian flag bearer? Great outfit!!! Azizulhasni Awang.. multiple gold medalist at the recent Asian Championship track cycling. He's down for 3 events: sprint, team sprint, and keirin. The could have gone with a better color for the outfit.. haha but I guess since the Beijing ceremony has been so colorful, they blend right just in.. lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theone Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 @ the one,who was the Malaysian flag bearer? Great outfit!!! Azizulhasni Awang.. multiple gold medalist at the recent Asian Championship track cycling. He's down for 3 events: sprint, team sprint, and keirin. The could have gone with a better color for the outfit.. haha but I guess since the Beijing ceremony has been so colorful, they blend right just in.. lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pui from HK Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Wow when the Chinese Taipei team marched into the sadium the whole sadium cheers for them! So did when the Hong Kong team marched in! And you can see the leaders of Taiwan's ruling party are jumping and waving to their athletes. It's really a GREAT moment for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citius Altius Fortius Posted August 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I wonder if these girls in the white outfit on the side of the track will dance the whole time until the last athlete has entered the stadium... Poor girls! DENMARK - one of the most beautiful countries - very impressive one handed flag bearer = DANISH DYNAMITE!!! I Love the idea with the footprints on paper by the athletes - wonderful idea!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citius Altius Fortius Posted August 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 BREAKING NEWS just 204 participating countries - since Brunei isn't participating due the athletes were registered too late Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theone Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 @ the one,who was the Malaysian flag bearer? Great outfit!!! Azizulhasni Awang.. multiple gold medalist at the recent Asian Championship track cycling. He's down for 3 events: sprint, team sprint, and keirin. The could have gone with a better color for the outfit.. haha but I guess since the Beijing ceremony has been so colorful, they blend right just in.. lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheal_warren Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Brilliant so far... Have been really impressed with TVNZ coverage! Amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Bleedin hell we're only on number 50 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Ah ha back up and running again lol. Not sure about the music for the parade of nations. i'm still a big fan of manchester 2002 with the disco / nightclub theme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 The server is obviously breaking down again. At least I couldn't access the forum during the past ten minutes. When does that ever change? I mean, it's known beforehand that there's an Olympic opening ceremony. So why not expand the server capacity in time? Anyway, I'll make a break and be back again after the ceremony (if the server doesn't break down completely then). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PYRROS2004 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Who is the blond sitting next to Samaranch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pui from HK Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 The news said LI Ning will light the flame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citius Altius Fortius Posted August 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 The could have gone with a better color for the outfit.. haha but I guess since the Beijing ceremony has been so colorful, they blend right just in.. lol! I think it looked good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattygs Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I will say, one thing Athens did better, is the transition between segments. Not in terms of storyline, but in terms of jumping from one to the next. In saying that, I think that may have been down to the different structure of ceremonies. Athens and Beijing have presented the world with two different models of ceremonies. Athens PA announcements were better though, not surprised as they had someone who concentrated on the poetic ramblings of the loud speaker. I mean, I may have missed it, but did we actually get a formal welcome during the Beijing ceremonies? Contrast that to Athens with their *citizens of the world welcome to Athens, olympic games welcome back to greece* That's only a small thing though. I put them both equal at the moment. But since the Athens cauldron lighting, all be it symbolic - was a tad underpar, it could win it for Beijing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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